David Cameron was snubbed by the speaker of the US House of Representatives after asking to discuss Ukraine aid on his trip to Washington.
Mike Johnson, a staunch ally of Donald Trump who has refused to table a vote on a bill that would send $60 billion of weapons shipments to Kyiv, reportedly claimed he could not find time in his diary for a sit-down with the Foreign Secretary yesterday.
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton was in the US for talks with former President Donald Trump on Monday and with his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, yesterday.
The discussions with Mr Blinken centred on what can be done to help Palestinians if the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) invade Rafah, in southern Gaza.
The meeting came after hopes were dashed of a breakthrough in peace negotiations, six months after Hamas’s deadly terrorist attack on Israel prompted reprisals that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron holds a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, U.S., April 9, 2024
Mike Johnson, a staunch ally of Donald Trump who has refused to table a vote on a bill that would send $60 billion of weapons shipments to Kyiv, reportedly claimed he could not find time in his diary for a sit-down with the Foreign Secretary yesterday
Lord Cameron was in the US for talks with former President Donald Trump on Monday
Despite the face-to-face meeting, it is understood that Lord Cameron and Mr Johnson are personally messaging each other, with those UK delegates believing a conversation could be arranged later down the line.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators handed Hamas the proposal which called for a temporary pause in hostilities, to get Israeli hostages out of Gaza and aid in, before both sides negotiate a lasting peace.
But an official from the terror group said: ‘The Israeli position remains intransigent and it didn’t meet any of the demands of our people.’
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Lord Cameron said the West is drawing up a ‘Plan B’ if a ceasefire cannot be agreed.
He said: ‘We have a clear Plan A for how we bring this conflict to an end. We have a temporary pause, we turn that into a sustainable ceasefire.
‘But we have to think about what is Plan B… I think that’s something we are going to have to be looking at and we were talking about today.’
The former PM also rejected growing calls to suspend arms deals to Israel but insisted he had ‘graver concerns’ over the humanitarian crisis taking place in Gaza.
When asked, he also refused to publish any legal advice that had been given to the UK Government over sales, adding that he had ‘reviewed the latest advice’ and the UK’s position ‘is in line with international partners’.
‘On Israel and international humanitarian law, and as required by the UK’s robust arms export control regime, I have now reviewed the most recent advice about the situation in Gaza and Israel’s conduct of their military campaign,’ Lord Cameron said.
‘The latest assessment leaves our position on export licenses unchanged,’ he added. ‘Let me be clear, though, we continue to have grave concerns around the humanitarian access issue in Gaza.’
Pressure has been mounting in recent days after three Britons and one US-Canadian dual citizen were among seven aid workers for World Central Kitchen who were killed last week in an Israeli strike, which the military called an accident.
In a recent letter, more than 600 British lawyers, including former Supreme Court judges, said that Britain risked breaching international law by exporting weapons to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, February 18, 2024
While speaking at a press conference alongside Mr Blinkin, Lord Cameron compared Ukraine’s war with Russia to the allies D-Day landings to defeat the Nazis in 1944
Lord Cameron met former President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort inb Palm Beach.
The Foreign Secretary became the first UK minister to meet Mr Trump since his dramatic departure from the White House three years ago.
The pair discussed Ukraine aid, the upcoming elections in the UK and US, NATO, Brexit – and their admiration for the late Queen.
Lord Cameron is expected to have been rebuffed in his lobbying, however, as the Republican presidential candidate is strongly opposed to giving Kyiv more money.
The foreign secretary previously stressed that he had not made the trip to the US to ‘lecture’ its politicians on giving more money to Ukraine, however, said he could get ’emotional’ when speaking of Ukraine’s plight.
While speaking at a press conference alongside Mr Blinkin, Lord Cameron compared Ukraine’s war with Russia to the allies D-Day landings to defeat the Nazis in 1944.
He said: ‘To me this is so fundamental to how Britain and America have worked together over the years, over the decades, to keep our world safe and to enhance our security.
‘I think of my grandfather landing on the Normandy beaches under the cover of an American warship. I think of how I worked together with President Obama to deal with the Isil threat in Syria and Iraq.
‘How we hunted down those terrible killers of British and American hostages in the Syrian desert. Jihadi John and the like.
‘To me this is the same thing. We face a huge threat from an aggressive Putin taking other countries’ territory by force and it is so important that we stick together.’
In Lord Cameron’s memoirs, published in 2019, he said Mr Trump had won the Republican nomination because of his ‘protectionist, xenophobic, misogynistic interventions’
The White House said it had been aware of Lord Cameron’s meeting with Mr Trump before it took place
His meeting with Mr Trump meeting is likely to have difficult, as Lord Cameron has made a string of critical comments about the former Republican leader.
In 2016 he called the former President ‘divisive, stupid and wrong’ leading Mr Trumpt to respond: ‘It looks like we’re not going to have a very good relationship.’
In Lord Cameron’s memoirs, published in 2019, he said Mr Trump had won the Republican nomination because of his ‘protectionist, xenophobic, misogynistic interventions’.
The White House said it had been aware of Lord Cameron’s meeting with Mr Trump before it took place.
The Us national security adviser Jack Sullivan, declined to say whether Biden’s government thought the discussion would be helpful, according to the Times.’